veer

English

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /vɪ(ə)ɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Dutch vieren (“to slacken”).

Verb

veer (third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered)

1. (obsolete, nautical) To let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, volume 12:

     As when a skilfull Marriner doth reed / A storme approching, that doth perill threat, / He will not bide the daunger of such dread, / But strikes his sayles, and vereth his mainsheat, / And lends vnto it leaue the emptie ayre to beat.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French virer.

Noun

veer (plural veers)

1. A turn or swerve; an instance of veering.

Translations

turning

• Persian: ویراژ‎‎ (fa) (virāž)
• Russian: поворо́т (ru) m (povorót)

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: skretanje (sh) n

to change direction - of the wind

• Maori: kōtore

Verb

veer (third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered)

1. (intransitive) To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve.

   The car slid on the ice and veered out of control.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Dryden:

     And as he leads, the following navy veers.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Burke:

     An ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about.

   • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     At this time in 2008, even as the global economy veered toward collapse, optimism about Washington ran surprisingly high.

2. (intransitive, of the wind) To shift in a clockwise direction (if in the Northern Hemisphere, or in a counterclockwise direction if in the Southern Hemisphere).
3. (intransitive, nautical, of the wind) To shift aft.
4. (intransitive, nautical) To change direction into the wind; to wear ship.
5. (transitive) To turn.

Antonyms

• (of the wind, to shift clockwise): back
• (of the wind, to shift aft): haul forward

Translations

To change direction or course suddenly

• Finnish: kaartaa (fi)
• German: ausscheren

• Maori: tataha

(transitive: to turn

• Finnish: kääntää (fi)
• French: tourner (fr)
• Maori: kōtore, tōrua (of wind or current)
• Occitan: virar (oc)
• Persian: ویراژ دادن‎‎ (virâž dâdan), تغییر جهت دادن‎‎ (tağyir jahat dâdan)
• Portuguese: virar (pt)

• Russian: меня́ть курс impf (menjátʹ kurs), повора́чивать (ru) impf (povoráčivatʹ), поверну́ть (ru) pf (povernútʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скренути

  Roman: skrenuti (sh)

• Spanish: virar (es)

of wind: to shift in a clockwise direction

• German: rechtdrehen

• Maori: tōrua (can refer to any direction), kōrure

Anagrams

• Vere, ever

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch veer.

Noun

veer (plural vere)

1. feather

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Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse vei, from Proto-Germanic *wai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /veːˀər/, [ˈʋeːˀɐ]
• Rhymes: -eːˀər

Noun

veer

1. Plural of ve

Etymology 2

From Old Norse vita.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈveːɹ]

Verb

veer

1. (dialectal, Fjolde) to know

References

• “veer” in Anders Bjerrum and Marie Bjerrum (1974), Ordbog over Fjoldemålet, Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /veːr/, [vɪːr]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːr

Etymology 1

A contraction of veder, from Middle Dutch vedere, from Old Dutch fethara, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ ~ pth₂én- (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). The sense "spring" is derived from the ability of feathers to resume their shape when bent.

Cognate with Low German Fedder, German Feder, West Frisian fear, English feather, Danish fjer, Swedish fjäder.

Alternative forms

• veder

Noun

veer c (plural veren, diminutive veertje n)

1. feather
2. spring (e.g. metallic helix which resists stress)

Synonyms

• pluim

Derived terms

Derived terms

• drijfveer
• veerkracht
• veerstrop

• veerwild
• veren (to bounce, reverberate)

Verb

veer

1. first-person singular present indicative of veren
2. imperative of veren

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch vere, from Old Dutch feri, from Proto-Germanic *farją.

Cognate with German Fähre.

Noun

veer n (plural veren, diminutive veertje n)

1. ferry

Synonyms

• overzet
• pont, veerpont m, veerboot

Derived terms

Derived terms

• veerboot
• veergeld, veerloon

• veerman
• veerweg

Anagrams

• erve, ever, vere, vree

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Dutch Low Saxon

Alternative forms

• vaaier (Gronings)

Etymology

Ultimately cognate to German vier.

Numeral

veer

1. four (4)

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Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *veeri.

Noun

veer (genitive veere, partitive veert)

1. edge

Declension

Inflection of veer (ÕS type 13/suur, length gradation)

	singular	plural
nominative	veer	veered
accusative	veere	veered
genitive	veere	veerte
partitive	veert	veeri
illative	veerde veeresse	veertesse veerisse
inessive	veeres	veertes veeris
elative	veerest	veertest veerist
allative	veerele	veertele veerile
adessive	veerel	veertel veeril
ablative	veerelt	veertelt veerilt
translative	veereks	veerteks veeriks
terminative	veereni	veerteni
essive	veerena	veertena
abessive	veereta	veerteta
comitative	veerega	veertega

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German Low German

Etymology

Ultimately cognate to German vier, English four.

Numeral

veer

1. (in some dialects, including Low Prussian) four (4)

See also

• Plautdietsch: veea

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Old French

Verb

veer

1. Alternative form of veoir

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Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin vidēre, present active infinitive of videō, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know; see”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /βeˈeɾ/

Verb

veer

1. to see
   • 13th century, Vindel manuscript, Martín Codax, Ai ondas que eu vim veer (facsimile)

     Ay ondas que eu uin ueer / ſe me ſaberedes dizer / por que tarda meu amigo sẽ mj

     Oh waves that I came to see / say unto me / Why my lover lingers thus away from me?

Descendants

• Galician: ver
• Portuguese: ver

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Westrobothnian

Alternative forms

• vedär

Etymology

From Old Norse viðra.

Verb

veer

1. let wind blow through something

Related terms

• ver